Your argument that the park at 10% capacity not needing Fastpass is a reason we should get rid of it entirely is moronic. Fastpass is a huge benefit for people who plan things out in advanced as with the park at full capacity you would never be able to ride then without waiting hours. Remember rides have a certain amount of people per hour, Fastpass just shifts it from people who planned to people who did not. So if you get rid of Fastpass the standby lines would not get any shorter as the same amount of people would be going through the ride. With Fastpass and proper planning you can do so much more than if they did not have it.
At multiple points in the article you make the assumption that the amount of people on a Cast Member day is the number they will have when opened to the public in a few weeks. There will definitely be more people. Also Disney would go out of business real quick if they limited themselves like this long term.
Countless posts have been devoted to this discussion. You have to separate legacy FP from FP+. Please hang with me to see why there are so many complaints.
The bottom line is that FP+ was created to redistribute crowds to avoid further investments in rides (obviously, that didn’t work). The entire venture was based on a gross misunderstanding of Blue Ocean business strategy. This isn’t a fan theory; this is what Disney told Wall Street. Nobody was trying to make Guest experiences more magical or pixie dusted. Execs hoped eventually everything could be scheduled like a cruise ship, and Guests would be so happy bouncing from place to place that Disney would rarely have to build a new ride or show. At the time, DVC resorts were more important than the theme parks.
FP+ forces long standby waits at attractions that would otherwise ebb and flow as crowds moved around throughout the day. Disney does this by splitting loading docks, understaffing, etc. A common example is how Space Mt. will often limit one track to FP-only and keep a massive standby queue on the other side; yet the attraction‘s original queue was built to split crowds and accommodate high capacities. POTC does the same thing. Over the last few years, theme park experts have called out Disney for sending empty boats from the FP+ dock while the POTC standby queue is over 45 minutes long. Sometimes a local Ops lead will combine guests at a split point, but official protocol is to keep the loading docks separated so the FP+ holders feel like they have an advantage.
Back in the days of paper FP, Disney turned off the machines when attendance was low and selectively used them on busier days. FP has always been a shell game, but the old system DID work because few attractions had the service. You could knock out other rides while waiting for a FP return.
Theoretical spreadsheet numbers about riders per hour don’t matter when real-life ops purposely allow queues to back up.
The gamble didn’t work, FP+ was never rolled out to other resorts, and I hope Disney takes advantage of current conditions to switch to a digital version like Tokyo uses. I use FP+ because I don’t have a choice, but I’d rather go to a digital version of the paper system so that only headliners get FP.